This week was an amazing week and fortunately for us it was a review of all the principals we have been taught and seen at the Crossing. The church’s focus should not be about worship, prayer, communion. All these things are good and things we should do but what is the mission beyond the worship, sermon, prayer? It really should be a place where anyone who’s not part of your “secret” club should be able to understand. We should always want to be inclusive, wanting everyone to know this Jesus we worship and love. So this week was an awesome review of really being the church, not simply attending a church. Tonight as I was finishing up my journal I wrote a poem..a poem? Angie? Really? I know big shocker..the secret is out..Angie is just a kitten. So here ya are.

Arn’t you Tired?

Arn’t ya tired…?
Tired of the pain
staring at the shame
running from your past
Always finishing last

Arn’t ya tired
of hiding the real you
never knowing who’s who
Staring at the floor
not even caring anymore.

Arn’t ya tired
of making them love you
your crying the nights thru
never being enough
never being loved

Well I know a man
a man unlike any other
who loves like a father
the father you never had

And I know a man
who’s cried all your tears
faced your every single fear
Who loves you without end
your one true, only friend

Do you know a man
who died to know you
crying out to hold unto
a girl He’s loved so long

A man who’s filled up your heart
right from the very start
One who will never let you go,
No…He’ll never let you go.

Angie Platt
8-21-11

In a world where we demand things our way and our timetable the idea of giving up our rights seems something so very contradicting to what we feel is right.Why is this something that very few Christians live out, myself included? During my time at Ywam thus far I have really meditated on this idea of giving up my rights as a Christian and of handing Jesus the keys. I don’t mean hand Him the keys when stuff is going down the toilet…no I mean all times in all places in your life. He has the keys and He is in charge of what you say and do. Some might say but Ang you have this I mean look what you did so you could go and be obeiadnt to Him, but let me tell you something its a daily choice. Yes I gave Him the keys for that moment but now I don’t know if he is even in the same car. I can hear his whisper of what He is calling me to.However I very much do not want to do this. I immediately rip the keys out of His hands and take over driving anywhere but where Im supposed to be. If Im honest Im hard pressed to give him back those same keys. The most unusual part is He will not take the keys our of our hands, He wants us to hand them to Him.

So what does this mean “giving up your rights” ? its what it sounds like. We are christians and if we truly give Him our lives as a living sacrifice and a thank you then this is what we ought to do. It means in our daily things. Im here and all is good and fine but to not be able to dry my clothes by means of a dryer and have to hang soggy clothes up for days only to get a stiff resemblance of my favorite pair of jeans makes me want to take those keys right out of His hand. If im giving up my rights then I can simply look at it as the cost knowing that His purposes and plans are so much greater than my own.  Then we get to a little more serious things like giving up my rights to my home and family and things that give us a stability and an identity. Are we willing to do this for Him as his ways are higher than ours? How about our lives….oooh don’t we all say yes If a crazy man pointed a gun in our face asking if we are a believer we would all say yes of course we are…what if we are to march through an amazon jungle to speak to a tribe who has never heard of the love and hope of Jesus only to be killed. I don’t know, its been raising a lot of questions in me. I feel like the Lord is saying “Angie how far will you go for me? what is your cut off line. Your limit or line in the sand? I then hear Him saying “I had no line in the sand, I had no limit” I went to the cross and and endured the most brutal death you could imagine all the while I was praying and forgiving you. Me? An un perfect, broken sinful human. It brings me to tears as I type this. Tears of sadness and shame of would I live that death sentence out? Will I walk out my faith radically and to the fullest its meant to be. Will I? Will you? He is calling each one of us to live a life of radical faith not just the crazy Platts…EVERYONE!  It drives me crazy when people are so inspired by what we have done and yet feel like that is not for them, like just living out their boring ole life is really all God has in store for them? NO!!! He wants us all to be moved and pushed to the next level of faith all the while giving Him the glory and honor! There is something. Something that moves you, maybe its orphans or in justice or poverty, the point is He moves us in our spirits so that we will move in the natural or these terrible injustices will keep on happening!

When I really ponder the events of the cross Im gripped with this. Even though when we are giving up our rights, essentially our entire lives, what we gain in Him is so much greater than any right we could ever imagine. That’s exactly what He says when he says whoever loses his life will gain it. Mediate on the words of your savior, ponder on what He was saying over 2000 years ago.Pray about what this means for you.

Ask Him and He will show you, then you get to decide how far you will go and if its far enough? You will find yourself asking these hard questions and truly living out your faith in a radical real way  that Jesus always meant for it to be.

This last weekend we went to the blue river where a company bottles water. It was like nothing we have ever seen. These rolling mountains with this amazing river running all along side of it. We went with another family and the boys had a great time and it was a three-hour trek but well worth it. These pictures hardly capture it.

This week we are learning on how to study Gods word and I’m sure later I will blog about that. What I really wanted to say was its just amazing to me how God knows us. He sees us our entire life and is always there. Today during intersection a lady from South Korea who can barely speak english had a word from the Lord for me and it took me back when I was eight and a very traumatic experience that I had blocked out of my mind mostly and she said that He was there and He was with me in that moment. I cannot explain the rush of emotions that I felt because I obviously have never shared this with her and she didn’t even know exactly what she was speaking she had only seen this vision. God desperately wants each of us to have this relationship with Him. Do you know what I think? We also want that with Him. We may not know it. We may never even admit it. However we all as humans will worship something, someone. Be it drugs, sex, money, our people we love, etc. He has created us to worship…Him. Thats all as I’m still processing this all.

Many of you have been asking why haven’t we been updating our blog and that you are wanting to know what’s going on. First thank you that’s very kind…Second we are crazy busy here and to sit down without my boys is a very rare thing. Even as I type this im watching samm practice memory verses with the boys using popsicle sticks. Anyway we are also not blogging because the deep and amazing things that are taking place is very hard to process. God has been working overtime at the Platt’s house. I will attempt to tell you where we are at and how He is moving us to deeper depths in Him.

The first week we really just pretty much took our hearts and all threw them on the floor. It was….hard. We all shared our life journeys with about 15 other strangers and it immediately grew a connection between us all. We have 3 families from Switzerland. A family from Texas, A single mom from NZ, a single lady from South Africa, A family from South Korea, A family from England. A couple from Canada. You can imagine the language barriers and yet somehow our hearts are tied to one another. So then we learned about
“Ancient Paths” based out of Jeremiah 6:16 and it was all about how we have the ability to impart to our children their God-given identity and their destiny. It was an amazing thing for us both. It talked about blessings and curses and how our family has so much impact. It was super good…again I cannot even describe the things that happened in that class. This week was all about relationships and  the four most important things about them. Love, Trust, Understanding and Honor. It was really practical about loving people where they are and no matter how wicked their deeds seeing Gods potential in them and their future. It’s really neat to hear all the story’s of people’s outreach and how they used all the skills that we are learning right now. Like our staff said you cannot give out to others that you yourself do not have. He is really working on us.

Our days are drop off kids at Crèche in the morning go to our lecture in the morning. Then Lunch and usually we have some work duties where we do the dishes and clean up around the base. Monday afternoons are planning for our outreach, Tuesdays afternoons are our one on ones where we chat with a staff member and pray and just talk about what is  going on in our life. Wed is base duties where we do more harder work. This week I cooked in the kitchen and samm worked in the yard shoveling ashes and soot. Thursdays are small groups where again we connect and pray. Fridays are when we can go to town and do our errands. We are at the mercy of that because we are the only family without a car here. That has been a challenge for sure. However we are praying that if God wants us to have one He will provide for us. We have created a weekly budget and things are crazy expensive here. Like usually two and half times more. We are learning on how to live on little and God is sufficient for us. We are so thankful that through you He has provided just enough. I never in a million years expected that I would be living the “missionary’s life” and yet its been a place of humbling.

God is opening doors for us to reach the people here In Matamata. We have already spoke with a guy who runs the car dealership here and how Jesus has changed his life. I have been witnessing to one of the cashiers who for some reason every time I have been to the store get this exact woman. So I felt God prompting me to share with her why I was here and talk about Jesus. Come to find out she tells me that her husband just told her he had been having an affair on her and she just found out. She said three other random people mentioned Jesus to her that day, she said” I wonder if He’s trying to get my attention” Um yes I said. I asked her if I could pray with her and she said not while she is working she could lose her job. Fair enough I said. So its been already happening and we haven’t started the official “outreach” phase. Our entire lives should be an outreach!!

Last night we went to a church called  Soul. It was similar to The Crossing and it was really neat to see it. Its a very small church and pretty laid back but I felt peace there. It really made us miss The Crossing and we both said no matter what church we find it will make us long for ours back home. It gives us a new perspective on just how blessed we are to be apart of that family. God is good.

Living in community is good and yet challenging at the same time. Its nothing like we have ever experienced and some days I long to be home and yet if God asked me “do you want to go home?” Id  never answer yes. So while we miss you all and our hearts are tied to yours its very clear He has us here in this season. Please pray that we get all He wants us to  and that our hearts would be wide open to what He  has planned for us. Thank you so much for your love and support. If you have questions or comments let us know!

Love Samm, Angie & the boys.

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